persons employed by the Romans to take, by means of note, trials and pleadings in their courts of judicature, or to write as amanuenses from the mouth of an author. These notarii were of servile condition. Under the reign of Justinian they were formed into a college or corporate body. Notarii were also appointed to attend the prefects, in order to transcribe for them. There were likewise notarii domestici, who were employed in keeping the accounts of the Roman nobility; and when the empire became Christian, there were notaries for ecclesiastical affairs, who attested the acts of archbishops, bishops, and other spiritual dignitaries. We find ecclesiastical notaries at Rome under Pope Julius IV. and also in the church of Antioch about the year 370. From these notaries was derived the office of chancellor to the bishops; and afterwards almost every advocate was admitted a notary.